Biography

Born: Mar 4, 1678; Italy
Died: Jul 28, 1741; Austria
Period: Baroque

The creator of hundreds of spirited, extroverted instrumental works, Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi is widely recognized as the master of the Baroque instrumental concerto, which he perfected and popularized more than any of his contemporaries. Vivaldi's kinetic rhythms, fluid melodies, bright instrumental effects, and extensions of instrumental technique make his some of the most enjoyable of Baroque music. He was highly influential among hisRead more contemporaries and successors: even as esteemed a figure as Johann Sebastian Bach adapted some of Vivaldi's music. Vivaldi's variable textures and dramatic effects initiated the shift toward what became the Classical style; a deeper understanding of his music begins with the realization that, compared with Bach and even Handel, he was Baroque music's arch progressive. Though not as familiar as his concerti, Vivaldi's stage and choral music is still of value; his sometimes bouncy, sometimes lyrical Gloria in D major (1708) has remained a perennial favorite. His operas were widely performed in his own time.
Details regarding Vivaldi's early life are few. His father was a violinist in the Catherdral of Venice's orchestra and probably Antonio's first teacher. There is much speculation about other teachers, such as Corelli, but no evidence to support this. Vivaldi studied for the priesthood as a young man and was ordained in 1703. He was known for much of his career as "il prete rosso" (the red-haired priest), but soon after his ordination he declined to take on his ecclesiastical duties. Later in life he cited ill health as the reason, but other motivations have been proposed; perhaps Vivaldi simply wanted to explore new opportunties as a composer. It didn't take him long. Landing a job as a violin teacher at a girls' orphanage in Venice (where he would work in one capacity or another during several stretches of his life), he published a set of trio sonatas and another of violin sonatas. Word of his abilities spread around Europe, and in 1711 an Amsterdam publisher brought out, under the title L'estro armonico (Harmonic Inspiration), a set of Vivaldi's concertos for one or more violins with orchestra. These were best sellers (it was this group of concertos that spurred Bach's transcriptions), and Vivaldi followed them up with several more equally successful concerto sets. Perhaps the most prolific of all the great European composers, he once boasted that he could compose a concerto faster than a copyist could ready the individual parts for the players in the orchestra. He began to compose operas, worked from 1718 to 1720 in the court of the German principality of Hessen-Darmstadt, and traveled in Austria and perhaps Bohemia. Throughout his career, he had his choice of commissions from nobility and the highest members of society, the ability to use the best performers, and enough business savvy to try to control the publication of his works, although due to his popularity, many were published without his consent. Later in life Vivaldi was plagued by rumors of a sexual liaison with one of his vocal students, and he was censured by ecclesiastical authorities. His Italian career on the rocks, he headed for Vienna. He died there and was buried as a pauper in 1741, although at the height of his career his publications had earned a comfortable living. Read less

Work: Concerto for 2 Violins and Cello in D minor, Op. 3 no 11/RV 565

Allegro

Largo e Spiccato

Allegro

About This Work

Antonio Vivaldi's Op. 3 set of 12 concerti, entitled L'estro armonico ("Harmonious Inspiration"), was enormously influential all over Europe; Johann Sebastian Bach thought enough of it to transcribe six concerti from the set, including theRead more
11th, written in D minor for two violins and cello. Op. 3/11 is one of the more interesting of a fascinating set, offering a unique structure and passionate music to fill it.

The soloists open the first movement by themselves, the two violins playing in unison with a choppy rhythm in the cello; the violins eventually liberate themselves enough from the rhythm to introduce a melody, which is then taken up by the cello over the continuo. Three bars of Adagio form a small interlude before one of the few full-blown fugues in Vivaldi's instrumental output. The subject has a resemblance to the melody introduced by the soloists, and the soloists cooperate with the orchestra in its development. The movement seems to end on a Picardy third, but this proves false, and the coda settles finally on the minor. A solo violin dominates the second-movement Largo, as the simple ritornello form Vivaldi uses gives over most of the movement to its passionate lament. The finale once again begins with the soloists before introducing the orchestra, but instead of a fugue, what awaits here is ritornello form. Exhilarating virtuosity is demanded from all three soloists as they propel this concerto to a decisive conclusion. One can easily hear why Bach was so enamored of this work.

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